News Briefing: Church in the World

A Canadian priest recovering in hospital from a hip fracture said he was twice offered assisted suicide by hospital staff even though he is not dying and is opposed to euthanasia. 

Fr Larry Holland told The B.C. Catholic, the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s diocesan weekly, that he broke his hip after falling in his bathroom on Christmas Day and was recovering at Vancouver General Hospital.

The 79-year-old said he was “very shocked” when a doctor told him about Medical Assistance in Dying or MAiD as an option in the event that his condition worsened. The priest said he told the doctor that he was opposed to assisted suicide on moral grounds but the doctor continued to put it forward as an option. A nurse also offered it to him on another occasion. 

Canada legalised MAiD in 2016. The Canadian bishops’ conference has asked Catholics to join public support for Bill C-218, a private members’ bill before Parliament which would stop the expansion of MAiD to make mental illness a sufficient condition, as scheduled for March 2027.

The Archdiocese of New York proposed an $800 million settlement to end a five-year legal battle and resolve 1,300 sexual abuse claims involving clergy and church employees. If accepted, it would be one of the largest such settlements in the United States. 

In a statement on 1 May, Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York said the archdiocese and the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee, representing “a majority of victim-survivors”, had been “working hard for several months to reach agreement on a global settlement of all sex abuse lawsuits”. 

“It cannot be denied that this has been a painful process – most significantly so for the victim-survivors and their families and loved ones who have suffered, in most cases, for decades,” Hicks said. “I pray that all of us, as the Family of God, will come together to support and affirm these individuals and take these next steps to bring about some healing and peace.” 

In December, Hicks’ predecessor Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced that the archdiocese would enter into mediation and raise more than $300 million for sexual abuse settlements. Hicks said the archdiocese has sold off the majority of its real estate holdings and made “significant cuts” to staff and other operational expenses. 

“These cuts have been painful for us,” Hicks said, “but they were necessary measures to secure the resources needed to compensate victim-survivors.”

Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala to lead the Catholic Church in West Virginia. Menjivar-Ayala, 55, an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Washington, will succeed Bishop Mark Brennan in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia. 

Menjivar-Ayala is a former undocumented migrant from El Salvador who entered the United States as a teenager by hiding in a car boot. He became a US citizen in 2006 and has publicly called on Catholics to oppose President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. In 2023, Menjivar-Ayala became the first Salvadoran-born bishop in the United States.  

He has described repeatedly trying to enter the country while fleeing violence and civil war in El Salvador. He worked as a janitorial, in construction and in other jobs before entering the priesthood in Maryland. 

“Evelio, you became a manual labourer as you adapted to your new home in the United States of America. Like countless others before you, you earned your upkeep with demanding work,” Cardinal Wilton Gregory said at Menjivar’s 2023 episcopal ordination. 

In a 2025 essay published in the National Catholic Reporter, Menjivar-Ayala denounced the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants and he asked Catholics to support migrants and refugees.

The Diocese of St Cloud, Minnesota, said it will merge 131 parishes into 48 parish groups. The diocese, spanning 16 counties in central Minnesota with a population of about 120,000 Catholics, is planning the closures in response to declining numbers of Mass-goers and a shortage of priests, of whom it has just 62.

Bishop Patrick Neary told EWTN News that the reorganisation “is rooted in a desire to strengthen the mission of our parishes and to ensure that our diocese remains vibrant and sustainable for generations to come”. Many of the Catholic churches in central Minnesota were built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by immigrants, often German or Polish.  

Elsewhere, the Diocese of Oakland, California, said it would close more than a dozen parishes due shrinking numbers of active parishioners and a lack of priests and money to keep the institutions afloat. 

Bishop Michael Barber said in a statement that the decision to close the 12 parishes and one worship site comes as part of the diocese’s Mission Alignment Process, which he said seeks to engage the faithful “in a process of self-reflection and renewal”. 

“We must focus on the activities that foster prayerful celebrations of the Mass, prioritise works of mercy, and form missionary disciples,” Barber said. “The status quo is not sustainable nor is it serving God’s people.” 

Barber added that the “painful decisions” had been made after extensive consultation and research, “in recognition that the future of our church must be distinct from its past”. He explained: “This is because the future demographics are vastly different from 50 years ago.”

Caritas Venezuela signed an agreement with a Venezuelan airline to transport essential supplies to remote and impoverished regions.

LASER Airlines and Caritas said the aim of the “flights of hope” was to “boost the distribution of essential supplies to the most vulnerable areas of inland Venezuela”. 

Janeth Márquez, director of Caritas Venezuela, said: “We are firmly convinced that linking up faith that is committed with the business sector is a powerful tool that will generate sustainable solutions [to problems] and hope for the whole country.”  

She continued: “This alliance enables us to deploy solidarity for the efficient management of resources so they directly reach the very people who most need them.”

Ilia Azpúrua, director of the LASER foundation which owns LASER Airlines, said it was an honour to work with the Church owing to its “well-established track record of having a positive influence on society”. 

Cáritas Venezuela is supporting the poorest and most remote communities through co healthcare and nutrition programmes as well as the national early alert system which flags up natural or weather-related disasters.

Argentina’s bishops offered to mediate in a dispute between the administration of President Javier Milei and journalists locked out of the Casa Rosada, the seat of government, ⁠over claims of “illegal espionage” after television network aired footage recorded with smart glasses.  

Archbishop Jorge Lozano of San Juan de Cuyo, spokesman for the Argentine bishops, said he was “surprised” by the press ban.  He offered to act as a go-between to see if a resolution between the two sides could be found. 

“Several rights are being violated and we are deeply concerned,” the archbishop said, emphasising the importance of freedom of expression for journalists, their right to report and the public’s right to be informed about government actions. He also expressed concern over the decision to revoke the accreditation to all reporters. 

“For our part, we will continue to promote dialogue – we are willing to organise meetings or whatever may be necessary,” he said. 

Pope Leo marked World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, remembering “the many journalists and reporters who have fallen victim to wars and violence” in his address after the Regina Caeli. He warned that freedom of the press “is often violated – sometimes blatantly, sometimes in more subtle ways”.

The largest diocese in the Philippines launched a “peer-based support system” to address mental health problems among clergy.

The Archdiocese of Cebu in the central Philippines said the system will take place within their “clergy age bracket groupings”. Priests “are asked to designate two among them as priest-companions” within these age brackets.

“These are priests who have the heart and capacity to reach out, to listen, and simply to be present for their brother priests – especially in moments of struggle and need,” said the Archbishop of Cebu Alberto Uy. “In this way, we foster not only organisation, but fraternity … not only structure, but genuine care for one another.” 

Mental health problems among the clergy were among the first issues that Uy, 59, faced shortly after his installation in September 2025. Two months later, he confirmed the suicide of a Cebu priest, Fr Decoroso Olmilla, after “his mental health collapsed”. 

“Depression is real. It is not imagined. It is not a weakness. And it is not a lack of faith,” Uy said in a reflection after Olmilla’s death. The Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Jose Advincula addressed the same problem of mental health on Maundy Thursday, saying that 18 per cent of Filipino clergymen reported psychological distress.

A diocese in the Philippines ordered parishes to recitate an obligatory prayer, called an oratio imperata, for the extinguishing of a fire at a 99-acre landfill site in northern Metro Manila. 

The fire at the Navotas landfill, which began on 10 April, continued for more than three weeks, polluting the air in the capital region and forcing over 300 residents to evacuate. Navotas is in the Diocese of Kalookan, led by Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David. 

In its oratio imperata issued on 1 May, the diocese sought divine protection for children, the elderly, and the sick from the threat of asthma, laboured breathing, and other illnesses due to contaminated air and water. “Lord, move the government agencies to act and to hold accountable all those responsible for this grave tragedy,” it said. 

David, who called the landfill fire “an ecological and moral crisis”, has called on the public to sue those responsible. “When a landfill poisons the air, endangers water sources, displaces aquaculture, and becomes a recurring fire and disaster risk, the public is not just entitled to answers – it is entitled to justice. Who will join our collective lawsuit?” David asked.

The Korean bishops published new figures showing the Catholic population now stands at just over six million. According to the bishops’ conference, South Korea had 6,006,832 Catholics as of December 2025. 

However, the new statistics reveal a slowing rate of growth of the Catholic population in recent years. The latest figures also highlight the challenges the Korean Church faces with an ageing profile and a decline in vocations and Mass attendances. Almost third – 28.9 per cent – of Korea’s Catholics are 65 or older. 

Responding to the report, the bishops’ conference said that “the recovery of lapsed and inactive believers is an urgent task” for the Church. “How to invite back into the community those who have been unable to continue their sacramental life is a pastoral question that can no longer be ignored,” it said. 

There were 70 priestly ordinations in 2025, a 42.1 per cent decline from 121 in 2015. Four of Korea’s sixteen dioceses did not ordain any new priests last year. Male and female Religious also report declining vocations.

Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras-Mylapore in India’s southern-most state of Tamil Nadu launched a pastoral ministry for transgender people.  

Fr Leo Joseph, who is running the ministry, said it had been established “as an answer to a call from the recently held Synod of Synodality, which urges the Church to ‘integrate marginalised communities like transgender people and help them live a dignified life’.”  

Aided by two priests and two nuns, Fr Joseph plans to enlist volunteers from religious congregations and the laity. He estimates that around 10,000 transgender people live in Chennai, the city formerly known as Madras.  

“Most survive by begging near toll roads and indulging in commercial sex work,” said Fr Joseph. His team will provide the transgender community with training in skills including tailoring and jewellery-making to help them secure stable employment.

Bishops in Zambia criticised delays in bringing the late President Edgar Lungu for burial in the country. Lungu died in South Africa last year and his family have been in dispute with the government over where he should be buried.  

The bishops’ conference said the government must bring the “impasse to a dignified and conclusive end”. The case is before the courts in South Africa, where Lungu’s family want him to be buried. Lungu lost the 2021 election which brought the opposition into power.

Archbishop Ignatius Chama of Kasama said the continued delays were “unacceptable” and urged the government to respect the wishes of the late president’s family. “You have traumatised the Edgar Lungu family and shocked the nation,” Chama said in a video statement last week. 

When Lungu died in a South African hospital last year, Zambia’s bishops mourned him for his leadership and his willingness to accept defeat and ensure the peaceful transfer of power.

Malawi’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) raised concerns over the high number of young offenders in the country’s prisons and called for measures to improve economic conditions that lead youths to crime. 

According to the CCJP, there are around 400 young offenders awaiting trial in one prison in the capital Lilongwe, raising concerns about overcrowding and slow court processes. “The crime rate is high and many young people are struggling to survive. This is pushing some of them into criminal activities,” said Louis Msiyadungu, the CCJP national coordinator. 

He made the comments last week after attending a court session in one of the prisons in Lilongwe. Malawi’s prisons have been hard hit by the lack of an adequate budget to address the rehabilitation of inmates. The CCJP called for the decongestion of prisons and prioritisation of young offenders.

Pope Leo said he had received a letter from parents whose children died in the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran on 28 February.  

Speaking to reporters on the flight back to Rome after his 11-day trip last month to Africa, he described the situation inside Iran as “clearly very complex”. He insisted the issue was “not whether there is regime change or not” but “how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people”. 

At least 168 people including 120 children died in what was believed to be a US airstrike on the school in Minab, according to Iranian officials. Pope Leo continued: “What we have seen is that many innocent people have died.”  

Referring to US-Iran negotiations, he observed: “One day Iran says yes and the United States says no, and vice versa – and we do not know where things are heading. This chaotic, critical situation for the global economy has been created, but there is also an entire population in Iran of innocent people suffering because of this war.”  

The Pope said he would “encourage the continuation of dialogue for peace, that all sides make every effort to promote peace, remove the threat of war, and respect international law. It is very important that innocent people are protected, as has not happened in several places.”

Israeli authorities denied claims that its military had demolished a convent in southern Lebanon. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) admitted damaging a “residential structure within a religious compound, which wasn’t indicated to be a religious site” in the village of Yaroun. 

It claimed the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah had fired rockets from the location, but Church leaders dismissed this. The Basilian Salvatoran Sisters who own the property said it had housed two nuns who like other residents of the area had left due to the Israeli offensive. Israel’s foreign ministry maintained that the site was “intact and safe”. 

The IDF also announced it was investigating allegations that troops destroyed solar panels in the village of Debel, where two soliders were pictured vandalising a large public crucifix.

Azerbaijani-affiliated authorities demolished the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God in Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh.

After Radio Free Europe published satellite images confirming the demolition on 26 April, the government-affiliated Caucasus Muslim Board issued a communiqué saying the cathedral had been “built illegally during the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory”. 

Opened in 2019, the cathedral was the largest place of worship in the region. The Holy See of Etchmiadzin had warned on 23 April that Armenian Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh were being systematically targeted in acts of “state-sponsored vandalism”.  

The President of the Artsakh Union, former state minister Artak Berglaryan, said not only newly built churches were being demolished. In some cases, a church’s identity was changed, “reclassifying them as ‘Caucasian Albanian’ churches – even when Armenian inscriptions from the Middle Ages remain visible”, he claimed. 

Under international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognised as Azerbaijani territory, but Berglaryan emphasised that the UN International Court of Justice had ordered Azerbaijan to protect its cultural heritage: “These obligations apply regardless of the political status of the territory.” 

There are churches dating from the third and fourth centuries in Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region during a series of military offences ending in the disputed territory’s recapture by Azerbaijan in 2023, when the cathedral served as a bomb shelter. 

Armenian sources have complained of the lack of response from the government of Armenia and also from the Holy See. The Azeri Heyder Aliyev Foundation is a funding partner of the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Apostolic Library and several other restoration projects in Rome.

Belarus released a Polish Carmelite monk detained since September 2025 on espionage charges. The 28-year-old Br Grzegorz Gawel was one of five prisoners Belarus released on 28 April. The group also included the journalist Andrzej Poczobut, who won the Sakharov Prize in 2025. 

Announcing the release, the Polish province of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites thanked supporters for their prayer and solidarity “during this difficult time” for Gawel. They also expressed “gratitude to the Church and state authorities for all the help that led to his release”. 

The release was part of an exchange which saw five people convicted of spying in Belarus and Russia freed while five Russian and Belarusian citizens held in EU countries were returned. Separately, three Polish priests will have to leave Belarus after the Commissioner for Religious and Ethnic Affairs refused to extend their permits for religious activity.

The Dutch Council of Churches (RKN), an association of 19 Christian groups including Catholic Church, denounced spreading far-right politics as a threat to democracy, the rule of law and the Christian faith.  

The RDK said “sympathy for radical right-wing ideology has increased” in recent years with “contempt for democratic values ​​and procedures. It does not adhere to the truth and is not ashamed of a lie. Strength and power are glorified, while service and vulnerability are despised.” 

Churches are concerned about this, it said, because “democracy aims at a society focused on the common good … if churches do not speak, and do not speak with distinction, they cover up injustice and misunderstand their calling”.

Far-right leader Geert Wilders came in a close second in the general election last October and his PVV party a strong third in municipal polls this March. The RKN report said this trend appeared in many European countries and the United States. 

It suggested member churches should be open to talking to people of this ideology but speak their own language of Christian discipleship rather than focus on parties or politicians. 

“Discipleship does not begin with ideal people, but with people as they are,” it said. “Jesus connects with concrete people, with desires, fears, frustrations and practices, but does not leave these unchanged.”

The Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonnin of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis, announced the closure of the community of the Carmel of the Annunciation of Compiègne due to falling numbers.  

Martyred members of the community, now located in northern France, are the subject of Francis’ Poulenc’s opera Dialogue of the Carmelites. Their martyrdom was also depicted in a play by George Bernanos.

The martyrs of Compiègne were guillotined in Paris in July 1794 during the French Revolution. For the eighteen months preceding their death, the 16 Carmelites had made a daily act of consecration, offering their lives to God so peace might reign again between the Church and State.  

In December 2024, Pope Francis approved the martyrs’ equipollent canonisation, and after a Mass in Notre-Dame Cathedral last September, a procession retraced the route by which the martyrs were transported by cart to the guillotine. A plaque now commemorates the spot where they were martyred.  

In 1992, the current community moved to Jonquières, a village roughly six miles from Compiègne in Picardy, north of Paris. Just six nuns, who are aging, remain in the community.

The Vatican Observatory announced that an asteroid has been named after Pope Leo XIII who established the observatory in 1891, to help show the world the Church’s attitude to “true and solid science” was to “embrace” and “encourage it”.  

In the motu proprio Ut Mysticam, Leo XIII called astronomy “a very noble science which, more than any other human discipline, raises the spirit of mortals to the contemplation of heavenly events”. Asteroid (858334) Gioacchinopecci honours Leo XIII, pope from 1878 to 1903 and baptised Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci.  

A second asteroid, (836275) Pietromaffi, commemorates Cardinal Pietro Maffi (1858-1931), the Archbishop of Pisa and president of the observatory from 1904 till 1931 who recommended entrusting it to the Society of Jesus. A third, (836955) Lais, is named after Fr Giuseppe Lais (1845-1921), an Italian Oratorian and astronomer.

There is a fourth, (688696) Bertiau, named after Fr Florent Constant Bertiau (1919-1995), a Belgian Jesuit astronomer who founded the observatory’s Computer Centre in 1965, pioneered computerised data analysis and led research on the distribution of stars in the Milky Way and on “light pollution”.

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